January 9 2018 - Santa Cruz, Galapagos!
Greetings from Santa Cruz! The Internet connection is very bad here so I have not been able to update the blog. Please know that everyone is well and happy. I will try to update by Wednesday night (when we are on the mainland). Until then, trust that all is well with everyone. We love the Galapagos!
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Monday, January 8, 2018
Day #4 - Jan 7th 2018: Volcano hike
Greetings everyone! I am starting this blog post at 10PM on Sunday January 7th, 2018, the end of our 4th day on the trip. I may or may not get to post it tonight, depending on the Internet situation (which is very sketchy at best!).
Today was quite a day! Several students woke up early to catch the 6AM sunrise (fun fact: being on the equator, the sun rises and sets here at 6 every day). We gathered for a nice American-style buffet breakfast. By 8AM, we met with our guide Marlon who stepped us through the day. He urged us to pack light, bring a raincoat, and bring at least 3 bottles of water.
The bus drove us part way up the island's main volcano Sierra Negra. After we parked, we found ourselves in a cloud forest, with a fairly thick and cool fog surrounding us.
Our guide led us on the hike. We started on a fairly smooth pathway of crushed volcanic rock.
We hiked for about 2 hours, mostly uphill. We soon rose above the fog. Everyone put away their raincoats as we walked toward the rim of the volcano.
This was a truly magnificent site! From there, we continued to hike upward and along the rim until we reached a picnic area. There we stopped for a light lunch (or, really, elevensies). Our guide Marlon explained that we would now enter the vigorous portion of the hike, approximately 2 miles each way across lava fields. Nearly everyone chose to go, with a few folks bowing out due to nagging physical issues.
The portion of the hike was quite different. We found ourselves in a moonscape of colorful jagged rocks arranged in large mounds, with lava tubes and collapsed basins. The occasional cactus dotted the otherwise barren landscape:
As we continued along the trail toward the peak, the landscape became increasingly barren. But colors started to emerge: deep purple, crimson, rust orange, and the occasional white and yellow streaks. Gazing around reminded me of a driveway oil slick: mostly black, but with seemingly random swirls of deep color.
After about 5 miles in total, we reached the peak of the dormant volcano. The 360 panorama offered views of all 6 of the island's volcanoes. The landscape was highly varied in color, texture, and shape.
Each individual rock seemed to have a story to tell, one of a fiery and recent birth:
We were only able to admire the view for about 5 minutes before it was time to begin our return journey. We trudged back across the uneven landscape, making each footfall with care to avoid twisting an angle or scraping against a sharp outcropping. We reunited with those who stayed at the rest area and completed out 10 mile hike. Many of us were sore and blistered, but everyone made the finish without complaint. Many offers of help were made: to share water, to carry a pack, to act as a handhold while emptying shoes of sand, to offer words of encouragement. The spirit of NEC and the class really came out during this walk, including that moment when several of our athletes challenged our guide to a sprint up one of the final hills (and took great pride in their victory).
Upon reaching the bus, we drove part way down the volcano to an organic fruit farm for lunch. We enjoyed the soup (creamy vegetable soup seems to be a mainstay here) and a buffet with salad, yucca fritters, potatoes, smoked chicken, and pasta. Dessert was a selection of fruit from the farm:
Afterward, we took a few minutes to enjoy the hammocks and admire the scenery before taking the bus back to our hotel. We had 10 minutes to change into snorkel gear. We visited a local lagoon for a "bonus snorkel" where we were able to observe the local marine iguanas swimming in the water, as well as numerous sea lions, fish, rays, etc.
We returned to our hotel in time to enjoy our final sunset on the island of Isabela:
We walked into town for dinner. As usual, the meal started with a creamy vegetable soup. And, delightfully, as happened the night before, they provided freshly popped popcorn as a garnish for the soup:
And this is what they call a "milkshake" around here:
After dinner, we split into those people who were very excited to get going on a well-deserved night's sleep and those who were excited to socialize for a while. Since I was a member of the former group, I cannot comment on the latter!
Thank you for reading. All is well. Aside from sunburns, bruises, and scrapes, everyone is healthy and happy. The trip is going as well as could be hoped and we look forward to our next adventure!
Greetings everyone! I am starting this blog post at 10PM on Sunday January 7th, 2018, the end of our 4th day on the trip. I may or may not get to post it tonight, depending on the Internet situation (which is very sketchy at best!).
Today was quite a day! Several students woke up early to catch the 6AM sunrise (fun fact: being on the equator, the sun rises and sets here at 6 every day). We gathered for a nice American-style buffet breakfast. By 8AM, we met with our guide Marlon who stepped us through the day. He urged us to pack light, bring a raincoat, and bring at least 3 bottles of water.
The bus drove us part way up the island's main volcano Sierra Negra. After we parked, we found ourselves in a cloud forest, with a fairly thick and cool fog surrounding us.
Our guide led us on the hike. We started on a fairly smooth pathway of crushed volcanic rock.
We hiked for about 2 hours, mostly uphill. We soon rose above the fog. Everyone put away their raincoats as we walked toward the rim of the volcano.
We stopped to rest and have snacks at a lookout point. The view was impressive. We stood on the edge of the cauldera (a crater made from a collapsed volcano) that is about 9 miles by 11 miles. We could see where the lava had escaped from a fissure and spread across to form the large, black, uneven lava fields:
The portion of the hike was quite different. We found ourselves in a moonscape of colorful jagged rocks arranged in large mounds, with lava tubes and collapsed basins. The occasional cactus dotted the otherwise barren landscape:
As we continued along the trail toward the peak, the landscape became increasingly barren. But colors started to emerge: deep purple, crimson, rust orange, and the occasional white and yellow streaks. Gazing around reminded me of a driveway oil slick: mostly black, but with seemingly random swirls of deep color.
After about 5 miles in total, we reached the peak of the dormant volcano. The 360 panorama offered views of all 6 of the island's volcanoes. The landscape was highly varied in color, texture, and shape.
Each individual rock seemed to have a story to tell, one of a fiery and recent birth:
We were only able to admire the view for about 5 minutes before it was time to begin our return journey. We trudged back across the uneven landscape, making each footfall with care to avoid twisting an angle or scraping against a sharp outcropping. We reunited with those who stayed at the rest area and completed out 10 mile hike. Many of us were sore and blistered, but everyone made the finish without complaint. Many offers of help were made: to share water, to carry a pack, to act as a handhold while emptying shoes of sand, to offer words of encouragement. The spirit of NEC and the class really came out during this walk, including that moment when several of our athletes challenged our guide to a sprint up one of the final hills (and took great pride in their victory).
Upon reaching the bus, we drove part way down the volcano to an organic fruit farm for lunch. We enjoyed the soup (creamy vegetable soup seems to be a mainstay here) and a buffet with salad, yucca fritters, potatoes, smoked chicken, and pasta. Dessert was a selection of fruit from the farm:
Afterward, we took a few minutes to enjoy the hammocks and admire the scenery before taking the bus back to our hotel. We had 10 minutes to change into snorkel gear. We visited a local lagoon for a "bonus snorkel" where we were able to observe the local marine iguanas swimming in the water, as well as numerous sea lions, fish, rays, etc.
We returned to our hotel in time to enjoy our final sunset on the island of Isabela:
We walked into town for dinner. As usual, the meal started with a creamy vegetable soup. And, delightfully, as happened the night before, they provided freshly popped popcorn as a garnish for the soup:
Is this an Isabela thing? A Galapagos thing? An Ecuador thing? A South American thing? We don't know! But we will keep you informed as the situation develops. Several people mentioned they plan to keep up the tradition upon arriving home. :-)
And this is what they call a "milkshake" around here:
After dinner, we split into those people who were very excited to get going on a well-deserved night's sleep and those who were excited to socialize for a while. Since I was a member of the former group, I cannot comment on the latter!
Thank you for reading. All is well. Aside from sunburns, bruises, and scrapes, everyone is healthy and happy. The trip is going as well as could be hoped and we look forward to our next adventure!
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Day #3: Three islands in one day
Greetings from Isabela, the largest island in the Galapagos. I am writing this blog at 7AM on Sunday 1/7 from the restaurant at the Isamare Luxury Hotel in the hopes of describing our past day.
Original post: Alas, the Internet connection is barely functioning, so I will post just this first paragraph to get word out. Hopefully I can update it more completely with photos later. For now, trust that all is well. Aside from a few sunburns, there are no issues, everyone is happy and healthy and having a great time.
Update: I believe I am able to get this out now, before dinner on Sunday.
Our day began on our first island, San Cristobal. After breakfast, we walked to the dock to board a speedboat for travel between the islands. Every time you travel from one island to the next, you need to submit to an agricultural inspection, one of many measures they take to protect the ecosystems on the various islands. We boarded a small water taxi to be shuttled to our larger boat.
The ride was about 2:45 from San Cristobal.
We arrived at Floreana, with 120 human inhabitants and considerably more red marine iguanas. These magnificent beasts, the most colorful of all Galapagos iguanas, are found nowhere else the world. We were all immediately transfixed, snapping photos and admiring their scales. One student later told me that she cried upon seeing her first marine iguana.
Our guide Marlon took on a walk along the seashore, explaining the unique geography, animals, and plants found on the island (many found nowhere else in the world). We hiked across black sand beaches and along paths of crushed volcanic rock.
The end of our hike was a large volcanic mound from which we could survey the island:
In the background of the previous photo, you can see our next destination: a blue/green water bay where we could snorkel with a wide variety of fish, sting rays, and most of all turtles:
After about an hour at this location, we didn't want to leave. The combination of black lava rock, white sand, blue sky, and green ocean was stunningly beautiful. Many of us felt that this was the loveliest spot we had seen on the trip thus far:
We walked back toward town and enjoyed lunch at a local establishment: soup, rice and beans, fried yucca (similar to fritters), fish, salad and fresh squeezed juice (which seems to be ubiquitous on the islands in a wide variety). It was very tasty and satisfying. As always, there was a different local hot sauce to add. We wrote postcards (to be placed in the famous mail barrel at the mouth of the bay) and enjoyed hammocks.
After cavorting with the red marine iguanas one last time, we boarded another water taxi that brought us back to our boat.
We motored about 1:45 (stopping at a small island that serves as a migratory bird nesting ground) to arrive at the island of Isabela, our third island of the day. Isabel is the largest island in the Galapagos chain. It is also the most volcanically active (in fact there was a magnitude 3.8 tremor shortly before we arrived) and is the 3rd largest in terms of population. We were met by a bus that brought is to our hotel. We had time to enjoy the sunset before walking into town for dinner.
We enjoyed another fine local meal. Most of us were dead tired by the time we returned to the hotel by 9PM. Most of us went immediately to bed, while others talked for an hour or so before turning in.
That's it for Day #3! Thanks for reading. Remember you can leave a comment below, and you can sign up to receive email notifications of updates up at the top.
Greetings from Isabela, the largest island in the Galapagos. I am writing this blog at 7AM on Sunday 1/7 from the restaurant at the Isamare Luxury Hotel in the hopes of describing our past day.
Original post: Alas, the Internet connection is barely functioning, so I will post just this first paragraph to get word out. Hopefully I can update it more completely with photos later. For now, trust that all is well. Aside from a few sunburns, there are no issues, everyone is happy and healthy and having a great time.
Update: I believe I am able to get this out now, before dinner on Sunday.
Our day began on our first island, San Cristobal. After breakfast, we walked to the dock to board a speedboat for travel between the islands. Every time you travel from one island to the next, you need to submit to an agricultural inspection, one of many measures they take to protect the ecosystems on the various islands. We boarded a small water taxi to be shuttled to our larger boat.
The ride was about 2:45 from San Cristobal.
We arrived at Floreana, with 120 human inhabitants and considerably more red marine iguanas. These magnificent beasts, the most colorful of all Galapagos iguanas, are found nowhere else the world. We were all immediately transfixed, snapping photos and admiring their scales. One student later told me that she cried upon seeing her first marine iguana.
Our guide Marlon took on a walk along the seashore, explaining the unique geography, animals, and plants found on the island (many found nowhere else in the world). We hiked across black sand beaches and along paths of crushed volcanic rock.
The end of our hike was a large volcanic mound from which we could survey the island:
In the background of the previous photo, you can see our next destination: a blue/green water bay where we could snorkel with a wide variety of fish, sting rays, and most of all turtles:
After about an hour at this location, we didn't want to leave. The combination of black lava rock, white sand, blue sky, and green ocean was stunningly beautiful. Many of us felt that this was the loveliest spot we had seen on the trip thus far:
We walked back toward town and enjoyed lunch at a local establishment: soup, rice and beans, fried yucca (similar to fritters), fish, salad and fresh squeezed juice (which seems to be ubiquitous on the islands in a wide variety). It was very tasty and satisfying. As always, there was a different local hot sauce to add. We wrote postcards (to be placed in the famous mail barrel at the mouth of the bay) and enjoyed hammocks.
After cavorting with the red marine iguanas one last time, we boarded another water taxi that brought us back to our boat.
We enjoyed another fine local meal. Most of us were dead tired by the time we returned to the hotel by 9PM. Most of us went immediately to bed, while others talked for an hour or so before turning in.
That's it for Day #3! Thanks for reading. Remember you can leave a comment below, and you can sign up to receive email notifications of updates up at the top.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Day #2 January 5th, 2018 - Arrival and sea lions!
Greetings from San Cristobal, one of the inhabited Galapagos Islands. I am writing this entry early on the morning of Jan 6th, reflecting back on our first day on the islands.
We began the day at our hotel outside of Quito. Our travel schedule afforded us only about 4 hours of sleep at the hotel before rising for an Ecuadorian buffet breakfast, featuring foods both familiar and not, and lots of fruit:
We packed up and headed out to finally reach the islands:
We drove back to the Quito airport and flew two legs on Latam airlines, landing in San Cristobal, the easternmost inhabited island of the Galapagos:
After 33 hours of total travel time, the tropical air was warm and inviting. We passed through the rather strict entry process. They were very careful that we did not bring any agricultural products with us. They sprayed the overhead bins just before we landed. Every bag was inspected. It cost $100 just to step foot on the island. It is clear that they are taking great care to protect the ecological value of the islands.
We soon met up with Marlon, our guide for the rest of our trip. A short bus ride and we arrived at our Miconia hotel, located across the harbor on the main street of the island. Sea lions and bright red crabs could easily be seen from the balcony where we gathered for lunch (grilled tuna, rice, fries, and a local juice that they called "tree tomato").
After lunch, Marlon led us to the Galapagos Interpretation Center to learn about the flora, fauna, geology, and history of the islands.
Thus fortified with knowledge, we walked through a dry forest toward Playa Carola, a spot famous for snorkling with sea turtles and for large gatherings of Galapagos Sea Lions.
We really enjoyed watching the sea lions. The large males would bark loudly to defend their territory (don't get too close to them!). The pups would cry for their mothers and nurse. They were not shy around people at all, so we had to be careful not to accidentally stumble upon one.
We donned our snorkel gear and took to the water. Nearly half the class had never been snorkeling before, and two of them did not know how to swim. Despite any trepidations, every student entered the water and viewed the reef and fish. Although the visibility was not great (compared to the standards I am used to in Belize and Hawaii) we were treated to seeing several turtles, rays, and most wonderfully a young male sea lion who played with us. He would dive, roll, and blow bubbles. He seemed to respond to what we were doing and imitate us. It was a truly wonderful experience.
Around 5:30PM, as the sun was sinking low, we walked back to the hotel. We passed sea lions lounging everywhere; this island has the greatest concentration of them of any of the Galapagos islands.
The sun rises and sets reliable at 6AM/6PM year round, and it was dark by the time we gathered for dinner. We walked through town (which is a small sized tourist town, with lots of playgrounds and souvenir shops). We had a somewhat culturally incongruous northern Italian dinner (which did feature local seafood prominently) that was quite good. After dinner, we wandered through town a bit and all settled in early for bed.
We all agreed that this was an epic day and well worth the journey! Yay Galapagos!
Greetings from San Cristobal, one of the inhabited Galapagos Islands. I am writing this entry early on the morning of Jan 6th, reflecting back on our first day on the islands.
We began the day at our hotel outside of Quito. Our travel schedule afforded us only about 4 hours of sleep at the hotel before rising for an Ecuadorian buffet breakfast, featuring foods both familiar and not, and lots of fruit:
We packed up and headed out to finally reach the islands:
We drove back to the Quito airport and flew two legs on Latam airlines, landing in San Cristobal, the easternmost inhabited island of the Galapagos:
After 33 hours of total travel time, the tropical air was warm and inviting. We passed through the rather strict entry process. They were very careful that we did not bring any agricultural products with us. They sprayed the overhead bins just before we landed. Every bag was inspected. It cost $100 just to step foot on the island. It is clear that they are taking great care to protect the ecological value of the islands.
We soon met up with Marlon, our guide for the rest of our trip. A short bus ride and we arrived at our Miconia hotel, located across the harbor on the main street of the island. Sea lions and bright red crabs could easily be seen from the balcony where we gathered for lunch (grilled tuna, rice, fries, and a local juice that they called "tree tomato").
After lunch, Marlon led us to the Galapagos Interpretation Center to learn about the flora, fauna, geology, and history of the islands.
Thus fortified with knowledge, we walked through a dry forest toward Playa Carola, a spot famous for snorkling with sea turtles and for large gatherings of Galapagos Sea Lions.
We really enjoyed watching the sea lions. The large males would bark loudly to defend their territory (don't get too close to them!). The pups would cry for their mothers and nurse. They were not shy around people at all, so we had to be careful not to accidentally stumble upon one.
We donned our snorkel gear and took to the water. Nearly half the class had never been snorkeling before, and two of them did not know how to swim. Despite any trepidations, every student entered the water and viewed the reef and fish. Although the visibility was not great (compared to the standards I am used to in Belize and Hawaii) we were treated to seeing several turtles, rays, and most wonderfully a young male sea lion who played with us. He would dive, roll, and blow bubbles. He seemed to respond to what we were doing and imitate us. It was a truly wonderful experience.
The sun rises and sets reliable at 6AM/6PM year round, and it was dark by the time we gathered for dinner. We walked through town (which is a small sized tourist town, with lots of playgrounds and souvenir shops). We had a somewhat culturally incongruous northern Italian dinner (which did feature local seafood prominently) that was quite good. After dinner, we wandered through town a bit and all settled in early for bed.
We all agreed that this was an epic day and well worth the journey! Yay Galapagos!
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